Only Words
by holikimaela
Summary: A collection of shippy oneshots. Chapter 8: Holly turns up to Artemis's Manor, asking him to drink with her.
1. Net

Net:

'C'mon, Artemis…' Holly managed to pout and smirk simultaneously, as if she knew the effect both expressions had on him.

It was hard for him to retain his dignity, stripped down to a pair of board shorts and pale in the sunlight that glared at him from the clear blue sky and warm white sands. Holly raised the ball up in her left hand and swung at it with her right, pitching it over the net.

Artemis scrambled to reach it, the sand shifting awkwardly under his feet. The ball sent a fine spray of it into his eyes as it hit the ground. He heard Holly's small sigh and glared at her.

'You only have to catch it!' she exclaimed. 'We're not even playingproper _volleyball_!' But she was beaming as bright as the sun, and there was no malice in her voice as there might have been had she been any one of his classmates at St Bartleby's.

'This is hopeless,' she conceded, as Artemis's attempt to throw it back over to her had it rebound off the net and back to him. 'Can you swim?'

'Yes,' Artemis replied, triumphantly. 'I will not drown, at least,' he added, because the elf-girl had not waited for him, simply bounding into the surf.

By the time he had reapplied sunscreen and waded out to her, she had already body-surfed into the shore twice, and was half floating and half treading in water slightly too high for her to stand flat-footed. Artemis had no such issue, although she was now level with him, the water buoying her up.

'I don't remember the last time I swam in the ocean…' she mused, looking about them with obvious pleasure.

'I'm sure your company was better,' Artemis said, attempting to joke.

'Artemis!' Holly splashed him. 'There's a reason I blackmailed you into coming, you know. So I could spend time with you that doesn't involve saving our worlds. That, and I wondered if you'd buy the _you need to repent for your race _excuse.'

'One human making it possible for one elf to experience the joys she lost,' Artemis paraphrased her own argument to her. 'Is that not reason enough?' Holly looked doubtful about his motivations, and he folded. 'Yes, okay, I admit it. This whole event was orchestrated by me so I could see you in a bikini.'

She splashed him more, and at that moment, an errant current surged towards shore, knocking the elf into Artemis, who instinctively closed his arms around her to keep her from slipping under the wave. Artemis felt a flood of hormones at the realisation he did not want to let go.

Neither, it seemed, did Holly. She put her hands on his shoulders, so he could support her weight, and smiled slightly. 'Is it just me, or is it getting warmer?'

'Must be the sun,' Artemis said, trying to draw attention away from the fact both of them were still pressed together. 'It will ruin my Irish complexion, I will have you know.'

'I didn't know Irish was a euphemism for vampire,' Holly replied, biting her lower lip to disguise a grin.

'I didn't know that flyboys used words exceeding three syllables,' Artemis retorted.

'I am very feminine, thank you!' Holly exclaimed, with mock offence.

'I know,' murmured Artemis, a little too audible for Holly's elfish senses.

Her expression was caught between embarrassment and satisfaction as she propelled herself a little backward. The rush of cool water where her body had been pressed against Artemis's left him feeling a touch bereft.

'You _are_ kind of pretty,' Artemis said abruptly, as he attempted to salvage his situation – and some how managing to make it worse. 'That is what I was referring to.'

'Uh huh. Sure,' Holly said, not looking overly convinced. Artemis sighed in relief as she made a few idle backstrokes, thinking that minor chastisement was his salvation.

It was pre-mature. 'Only kind of?' Holly said, her face inscrutable as she swam back toward him.

'Perhaps.'

'Oh, Artemis, stop it. Do you think it or not?'

'Perhaps.' There was no way she could make him be any less vague…

'_Tell me what 'perhaps' means, Artemis Fowl,_' Holly said, her voice sultry with _mesmer._

Artemis closed his eyes as his lips involuntarily formed the word. 'Extraordinarily.'

Holly opened her mouth a little in disbelief.

'Artemis---'

And that was as far as she got. The rest was lost in a mixture of salt water and sand as she was unbalanced by a wave. Artemis manage to regain is footing just before another wave threw him into the shallows with her. Apparently, they'd been carried into the break zone.

When they had regained enough breath to do anything but gasp for it, both stumbled out of the water and collapsed on dry land, under the shade of Juliet's huge and very colourful beach umbrella. Holly glanced over at him, still panting slightly, and caught his fingers in hers.

Artemis did not react to this except to press their sand-covered palms together as Holly edges closer to him.

'Extraordinarily, huh?' Holly murmured, smiling.

'I thought the unwarranted use of _mesmer _was severely frowned upon by the Council?' Artemis replied.

Holly just smiled.

'I won't tell if you don't.'

* * *

_Please review?_


	2. Chord

Chord:

C sharp. Discordant from the middle C Artemis had finely tuned himself to recognise. Although absolute pitch was not one of his talents, he had a particularly flawless relative pitch. And all of it hinged on his aural memorisation of C.

C sharp is what he hears when he flips open his communicator – titinus of a pitch far too low for conventional diagnosis. Holly is the discordant note in his life.

Life is a dance of chords and notes – semi-quavers and fermatas – and Holly is the note that is ever so slightly off in his composition. The note that threatens to send the pianists fingertips from skimming gently over ivory into a leaden cacophony.

Artemis paused in his improvisation, hands poised and frozen. He could hear it again. With a heavy sigh, he closed the lid over the keys of the piano, knowing his focus was through. Rising slowly from his chair, he advanced across the hall and to the foot of the grand-staircase, ascending, resting his hand on the rail. Once he arrived at his room, he started over the view through the window that dominated his entire western wall.

Another few minutes, and a buzzing alerted him to Holly's call. He opened the communicator, perfecting his tone to be friendly but not overly enthused, interested but not obsessed …

And while he spoke, he heard behind every syllable, the note his heart sang in his chest reverberated to his ears.

Discordant C sharp.


	3. Shaken

Shaken:

Holly felt her eyes drift up to the flickering light, then forcefully pressed her palms into them. _Amateur psychological torture technique. _And the worst thing was – it was working.

Holly shuffled around so she could face the wall. The concrete, icy and solid, made her shift about, leaning first on her hands, then her elbows, then sitting crossed-legged … It made no use. Every inch of the cell was this uncomfortable.

Whoever had taken her knew what they were doing. And they had absolutely no regard for her, even less than Artemis had when he took her hostage. The cell was bare concrete, unfurnished. Sometimes it would black out for hours at a time, a black hole. The door was solid metal with a slot that they occasionally tossed food and bottles of water through.

The only real remarkable thing about it was a large concrete cube – about a metre in height, width, length – in the back left corner of the room. Holly had no idea what it was for. She had scaled it once, with tremendous difficulty, but there was nothing on top of it. The only thing that had happened was they'd video taped her again.

It kept happening. They had done it half a dozen times already. Holly had even managed to break it once.

Suddenly, the slot opened, and a tanned hand dropped something onto the floor of the cell. Holly approached it carefully, hoping it would not explode. It didn't. Holly picked it up. It was a small, thin black box. She turned it over and found a screen and series of buttons on the other side. As she pressed the biggest of them, the screen shone with colour.

'—exclusive film of the creature, shown here. The mass in the corner of the room is a metre tall, and the figure is around that height.'

The footage was of Holly when she had first been brought in. She was unconscious – they'd darted her, like Artemis had, while she was doing the ritual. _Déjà vu,_ Holly thought acidly. They stripped her of all her Section Eight gear, leaving her with only her midriff under-top and calf length tights. It cut jarringly to footage of her attacking the door of her cell in a rage, and then, finally, curled up in the corner. Now, the camera zoomed to her ears and her breasts. Holly realised she'd stopped listening to the commentary and focussed. The voice had changed.

'The ears are pointed in a traditional manner of folklore and she had the proportions of a full grown woman. There is no scar tissue around the ear, nor has the video been digitally altered. Although---'

A remote disappeared from the hatch.

Holly got to her feet and threw the miniature television at the slot, which could not be opened from her side, as it swung shut, sitting flush with the back of the door. Holly banged on it with her fist, but it didn't give. She called out as she attempted to dig her nails under it.

'What have you done? What are you--'

The slot swung open again, and Holly stumbled back in shock. Weak from lack of sustenance, her ankles gave and she ended up in a heap on the floor. A newspaper land at her feet.

Holly picked it up and unfurled it. On the cover was a picture of her curled up against the cube and the headline 'Fairytale find'. The article was all opinions on the legitimacy of her existence. The last line read: 'The discoverers are rumoured to be discharging the creature to the highest bidder.' Holly scanned the next page – an article about animal cruelty with relation to the current situation.

'I'm not an animal!' Holly screamed at the door, and threw the TV at it again, this time cracking the casing. Angrily, she tore the newspaper into pieces, flinging them at the unforgiving light.

_That's what this is all about,_ Holly thought. _They're auctioning me off_. A thought occurred to her. _The Lower Elements has to know about this … Why haven't they come?_

But then Holly remembered. The return of the demons had spawned a new defence policy. In the event of a critical evacuation, the People were to displace themselves in time, using the core-force. They had left her. All of them.

Holly slumped against the door, feeling hot tears fall onto her cheeks. Shivering, Holly cracked her head backwards onto the door._ Thump. Thump. Thump. _It hurt, but not as much as her stomach did, cramping up in despair

_Thump. _'D'arvit.'

_Thump. _'D'arvit.'

_Thump, thump, thump. _'D'arvit, d'arvit, d---'

'Holly!'

Holly moaned, as if in agony. For the past two hours, she'd been having aural hallucinations. She'd through they had ceased after she had finally forced herself to sleep, but they seemed to have returned.

'Holly, are you in there?'

'Shut up!' She screamed, clamping her hands over her ears. 'Leave me alone!'

'That's no way to talk to your knight in shining armour.' _That voice_.

Holly froze, pushing her hands back through her hair. 'Artemis? Why… how…'

'I thought this would make us even.' She could hear the smirk in his voice, although it was tinged with exhaustion and darkness. 'I would have you know I payed a considerable amount of money to outbid some American networks.'

'What are you doing?' Holly pressed her ear up against the door. There was a series of soft soprano beeps and then a lower one.

'Deactivating the alarm so I can open the door. Why?'

Holly drew a difficult breath. 'Can you … I want to look at …'

She heard a barely audible 'oh' through the door, and Artemis pushed open the hatch, leaning down so Holly could see his eyes. One blue and one hazel. Very involuntarily, Holly began to cry again. She twined her fingers with Artemis's, her knuckles hitting the sharp edge of the hatch, but she didn't care. He'd come to save her.

There was a triple beep and the sound of a lock opening. 'About time,' Artemis muttered. 'The LEP only gave me 56 hours before they shunted the People out of time…'

Holly frowned as Artemis withdrew his hand, the scrambled backwards once more as the door swung inwards. Artemis stepped through the opening into the cell and looked around.

'Nice place you have here.'

Holly just punched him in the shoulder – probably harder than she meant to. He arranged his expression into one of mock offence.

'I rescue you and that is all the gratitude I get?' he asked, raising one eyebrow. 'Next time I might not bother.'

Holly closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. He knelt down to match their heights a little better. Artemis brushed his thumb across her cheek to wipe away a rogue tear, and rested it there for a moment before moving it down to catch her chin between that and the crook of his forefinger, making her look up at him.

Holly wasn't sure if she moved to him or he moved to her, but suddenly they were kissing – slow and light and very, very cautious. When finally they leant back again, Holly was beginning to become aware of the turmoil of emotion inside her.

'Are you okay?' he asked. Holly glanced pained look at him. 'Are you hurt, I mean?'

'Just shaken,' she replied.

Artemis smiled at her, and to her surprise, Holly found herself smiling back.

'Time for you to come home, then,' he said, softly.

Holly clung to him, and he picked her up and carried her through the doorway.


	4. Similarity

Similarity:

Holly studied the room sceptically, then turned to the Mud Boy-Man-Thing standing beside her.

'Apparently the receptionist automatically assumes that two people arriving together are going to sleep in the same bed?' She glared at him pointedly.

Artemis blinked twice, obviously a little confused as to why he was being blamed for the hotel's ineptitude.

'No matter,' Holly continued, diving onto the bed and leaning back in the superfluous pile of pillows. 'You can sleep on the couch.'

'I do not think so,' Artemis replied, after realising the hotel had no couch. 'I'm sorry I only had enough money on me to rent a room from a three star hotel – being mugged does that to you.' Holly rolled her eyes – they'd lost more important items in that mugging than his cash, and Artemis knew this. 'You are lucky I keep emergency money in my jacket's inner pocket.'

'You should have robbed them back when we tracked them down to get back the Omnifarious,' Holly said scornfully, then softened when Artemis shifted his weight a little, actually seeming uncomfortable with the idea. 'I'll pay you back when I get my bonus for Retrieving this thing.'

Holly pulled a small cube fashioned from ancient faience from her own jacket pocket, and closed her eyes languidly. For a moment, nothing happened – but then wings sprouted from her back, destroying her already languishing LEP suit.

'Aïe,' said Holly mildly, in the language of the people that they were currently impinging hospitality.

_Not that they did a very good job of it, _Artemis thought bitterly. _Being attacked under the Eiffel Tower is less than hospitable._

Holly had been sent to Paris to courier a fairy artefact back to Haven, on her birthday, even. When she'd complained to Artemis about this, he'd flown to France to arrange a meet up in compensation for all her Underground friends. Just to 'hang out'.

Artemis had dragged a shielded Holly around all the cultural sites – L'arc de Triumph, la Louvre … And on the final destination – la Tour d'Eiffel in lights – they'd been held at Neutrino point by two French shielded fairies. What followed had been an invisible gunfight where Artemis and Holly had been incapacitated, stripped of all valuables – including the Omnifarious, which Holly had insisted on carrying on her person, in case, ironically, their hotel room was ransacked – and dumped in a canal. And now, that they'd finally found the People's prized piece of magic, they had one more night of freedom before they had to return to Haven and explain the whole situation.

The Omnifarious, as Holly had just demonstrated, gave the user the ability to morph their form in any way imaginable. Theoretically there were no limitations, but pragmatically it required a large amount of magic and skill for even minor transformations. And it was vaguely painful.

'You do realise you are no angel?' Artemis observed dryly. Holly punched him as he reached over to switch on the television suspended above the bed to watch the Parisian news broadcast.

He sat down on the foot of the bed, looking up at the flatscreen as the anchor reported on the trial of two men for the murder of an Irish citizen. _Something else the LEP is going to have to clear up. _'Could you make yourself human?' Artemis inquired, as Holly added a cat-tail to her ensemble.

'I suppose,' Holly answered, frowning a little. Then, the wings and tail were melted back into skin, and Holly's form grew rapidly to almost Artemis's height.

'You forgot your ears,' was Artemis's only remark. But he wasn't focusing on her ears – her suit had finally given up, tearing in some rather interesting places. He felt a rush of blood to his cheeks and closed his eyes in an attempt to combat his hormones.

He opened them again as a door slammed. Holly had retreated to the bathroom. Smiling a little, Artemis unzipped his travel bag and located one of his smaller shirts and a pair of boxers. He walked to the ensuite and knocked on the door lightly.

'Shut up, Fowl.'

Artemis resisted the urge to walk away with his offer. 'I have some clothes for you.'

The door opened a crack and Holly's still rather tiny hand snatched them out of his grasp when he extended them to her. Artemis leant on the opposite wall, waiting until she emerged.

When she did, the rush of hormones was worse than before. Something about Holly being dressed in his clothes … He shook his head firmly. This was not a train of thought he was willing to allow himself.

Holly smiled, almost shyly. 'Whatcha think?' She asked, spinning around on her toes.

'If I did not know better, I would say you were a normal teenage … tomboy.' She punched him lightly on the arm before flouncing back to the bed to watch a night-time movie about a heroine saving the world.

'Move over a little, please,' Artemis said, sitting down beside her.

'Shove over,' Holly corrected, shifting to her left, making room for him.

By the time the credits rolled, Holly had fallen asleep, slumped against him, and Artemis too tired to organise any makeshift arrangement for himself – so he clicked the power on the television remote, flicked the switch on the light beside their bed and fell asleep himself.

Artemis woke late, late at night or early, early morning (he was not sure which), maybe three hours later. The cold had woken him, that and Holly having begun to cling to him, twisting his shirt up above her stomach. Carefully, he straightened it and manoeuvred her and himself under the covers, hoping she would not wake. She made a sleepy noise and shifted about a little when he lifted her to pull back the doona, but settled quickly once he laid it over her. Hesitantly, he climbed back in beside her.

Although he was warmed physically, his mind still seemed cold. In an attempt to fix that, he rolled onto his side and draped an arm across Holly's waist, sleep-logic getting the better of him. Holly's eyes fluttered open.

_It would be that which woke her, _Artemis thought.

'Artemis?' she whispered, her eyes barely open. He nodded disjointedly, unable to reply. 'Mmm, you're warm.' She took a deep breath, moved into him and fell back asleep.

Too tired to make sense of that, he also fell back asleep.

The morning came, Artemis's internal clock woke him at six o'clock. Seeing no point in waking Holly, he slipped out of bed and got dressed in an informal suit with the idea of getting breakfast. It was still cold outside, so Artemis asked directions to the nearest bakery – he did not feel like wandering around attempting to find an open shop. After walking a block and a half, he found "Massot's" and ordered two croissants and a stick of long bread- as it was situated in a tourist-y locale, it seemed to be all that sold. Fortunately, they did not attempt to over-charge him.

The food was still hot when he got back to the motel. It seemed even colder inside the room than out on the street. Taking their breakfast, Artemis slid back under the covers and sat up against the wall, his legs stretched out. He opened the paper bag, tearing off a chunk of bread and devouring it, before moving onto his ham and cheese croissant. It was very salty, but he honestly did not mind – it definitely was no LEP rations.

'Care to share?' Holly asked, looking up at him from the pillows.

Wordlessly, ignoring that they were lying beside each other as she seemed to be, he handed her the baker's bag. She struggled into a seating position and bit off a piece of the cheese and tomato croissant he had bought her. She chewed and swallowed with a satisfied sigh.

'I thought I ordered you to the floor?' she asked before taking another bite.

'I am not under your command, Captain,' he replied, smirking slightly.

'It would've been much colder without you anyway,' she conceded, and Artemis's smirk faded into a smile. Holly reached over and brushed a strand of hair away from his hazel eye.

'Tu es mignonne,' Artemis remarked, referring to her gesture and sleepy eyed smile.

'It was annoying me,' she replied. 'You do realise I can still understand you? Gift of Tongues doesn't disappear just because I'm pretending to be human.'

'Neither does my sentiment,' he said mildly.

Holly looked taken-a-back, so she busied herself by taking a large bite of her croissant, getting cheese on the tip of her nose. Impulsively, Artemis lent forward and licked it off.

'It was annoying me,' he said cheerfully when Holly stared at him in surprise. 'Additionally, I wanted to.' He hadn't moved back.

Holly paused – then shifted fractionally, brushing her lips against his.

'You were annoying me,' she whispered. 'Plus, I wanted to.'

* * *

_I'd rather like it if you review – it gives me incentive to actually post my fic up here at all. Please? D_


	5. Moonstone

The creaking of a window long resigned to being shut and locked and a crystal voice woke Artemis from his sleep. At first, he thought it might be the fractured remnants of a dream still hovering about his mind and it struggled to detangle itself from his subconscious, but when it didn't cease, Artemis slid from under his mink blankets and padded across his room, opening his door a fraction.

The voice was singing. Obviously whoever this was had no regard for stealth. How they had navigated the Manor's alarm systems was a matter that would have to be dealt with.

Artemis pressed down on the concealed button built into the ring he wore in his index finger, keeping his thumb depressed for three seconds. That would trigger a signal to Butler to attend to Artemis's location. Artemis waited for his bodyguard to appear, but when he did not, a prickle of worry worked its way into Artemis's throat.

_Had this thief disengaged Butler? _Torn, Artemis hovered in his doorway, before deciding he was wasting precious moments in which the intruder could be preparing to access the Manor's wireless network and siphon his patents. He had only finished the Micro-Edec the night before. Damned if someone was going to waltz into the Manor and steal it from him while he lingered in his bedroom, indecisive.

Thunder crashed overhead, disguising Artemis's footsteps as he approached the room he had heard the song trickle from. The lightning's echo cleared and he could hear their voice again. Alto, singing a melody obviously more suited to a soprano register. But pretty nonetheless.

Artemis opened the door a little to peer through. A flash of red hair and a grey flight suit forced him to roll his eyes. Pushing the door open, Artemis stood in the frame, leaning against it, his arms crossed loosely, smirking at the elf. She had yet to notice him.

'---Can't go on! Everything I had is gone, stormy weather…' She spun around to see him standing there and gaped a little.

'Artemis!' she exclaimed, flinging her arms around him. 'It's brilliant to see you.' She paused, stepping away, abruptly all business. 'Now, if you'd just hand it over, maybe we can conduct some civilised conversation before I have to head back.'

'Happy birthday, incidentally,' Artemis intoned as he crossed to the safe behind Holly and entered the code that would unlock the system. She made a face at him. 'How did you know it was in here?'

'The magic you stole from us set it off like a beacon.' She looked smug.

Artemis hit enter, then frowned at the keypad of the safe. 'This is odd. It does not appear to be opening.'

'Haha, Artemis, just open it before I have to incapacitate you.' She blinked once and realisation re-arranged her features from irritation to sheepishness. 'Oh!' Holly bent down to retrieve her helmet from where she had dropped it on the floor, and fiddled with a discrete panel. It beeped three times. 'Try again,' she advised. 'Foaly put a scrambling device in the helmet so I could get past the alarm systems.'

'I will have to see to that,' Artemis replied, re-entering the code. He pulled open the re-enforced door and withdrew a small green velvet bag. Carefully, he unstrung the bag and tipped two small stone objects into his hand.

Holly smirked. 'Ley-stones. Mined from the ley-lines of Tara. Tricky, but not nearly enough.'

'Only one of them is a ley-stone,' Artemis informed her, indicting the larger of the two stones. 'The other is your birthday present.'

Holly took the smaller of the two, a pearly white tear-drop, and twisted it between her fingers. 'A moonstone.' She looked up at him, puzzled. 'How--?'

'Legally.' She glared at him. 'Honestly,' he clarified, remembering that she knew about his recent twisting of Irish law that allowed him to facilitate a number of questionable schemes.

'It's beautiful,' Holly whispered, curling her fingers over it almost possessively. Her face softened as she looked at him again. 'Thank you, Artemis. This means a lot. Especially since no one underground even remembered… 'Cept Foaly,' she amended.

'I would sing you the traditional song, but I doubt my singing voice is as astounding as yours,' he said, grinning a little. Holly flushed red and put one palm over her mouth.

'You heard that? Egh.'

Artemis hooked his fingers through hers and pulled her hand away from her face. 'Now, don't do that.'

'I don't like people hearing me sing,' she grumbled.

Artemis laughed. 'Do you like to sing?'

She shrugged, non-committal, then nodded slightly.

'Then you should not repress it. Repression of aspects of self leads to an unhealthy habit of doing so, which can progress to severe psychological stunting.'

Holly fixed him with an odd look, as if she was trying to ascertain his degree of sincerity. 'That's ironic, coming from you.'

'Excuse me?' Artemis stressed the second syllable as he had heard Juliet do. Holly collapsed into a fit of laughter.

'_You're_ lecturing _me_ about repression?' Artemis had to admit Holly was quite possible the least repressed person he knew. Butler and Juliet were trained to estrange their emotions. Artemis had spent his whole life trying to avoid them. But here this elf was doubled over in hysteria… and still managing to look courageous and beautiful.

Artemis straightened his features deliberately, attempting to mask the effect that thought had on him. He did believe Holly was brave, yes, and pretty. But he should not be thinking that while simply observing her. Those words were for deeper moments. But he could not keep them out of his head. Which was unfortunate because words were leading to actions.

'You're repressing something right now,' Holly accused him, jabbing her finger into his chest. The contact would have made Artemis jump, had he not such a tight rein on himself.

The room they were standing in was the Japanese lounge. Holly, with a dismissive wave of her hand crossed the room to perch on the edge of the low, cushioned (though backless) cedar bench. She had sat in the centre of it, so Artemis chose to stand rather than upset symmetry. Or, because he did not want to lead himself into temptation. One of the two.

Holly looked up at him. 'You're _still_ doing it. Hypocrite.'

'Your singing would not cause irreparable damage to anything or anyone. What I am repressing may.'

Holly rolled her eyes at his defence. 'How long have you been harbouring the urge to damage me then?'

'Not you.' Artemis fought the urge to sigh.

'Oh, so you want to wreck some Oriental furniture?' she asked, her voice twisting with sarcasm.

'Perhaps it would cause irreparable damage to our friendship?' Artemis suggested lightly.

Holly smiled a little now. 'You've already kidnapped me. I don't think _anything _could put much of a strain on our friendship, Artemis.' Her smile changed a little, less laughter more imploring. 'Please?'

He took a deep breath. 'You must not, if I do this, hold it against me, or even act as if it ever happened.'

Holly's brow crinkled. 'You're beginning to worry me, Arty. Do it before I change my mind.'

Artemis knelt in front of her, able now to stare perfectly levelly into her eyes. _Had that eye been so blue when I owned it?_ Very carefully, he took her pointed chin between the crook of his index finger and thumb. _She had to know now._ Gently, he ran his other hand through her hair and around to the back of her neck, resting it there, applying the slightest pressure. _Why wasn't she turning away—_

She leaned into him as he leaned into her, and instead of brushing lips lightly as Artemis had intended, they were kissing intimately. Far more intimately that Artemis intended, far less than he wanted. Balanced on that precarious consideration, he slipped his arms down to be around her waist as she moved hers to link around his neck. Sometime, they stopped kissing and she laid her cheek to his chest.

'Artemis, I would really like to hold this against you,' she murmured. 'Because if I don't you might not do it again.'

Artemis smiled into her hair, breathing in her smell. 'If I'm allowed to hold it against you…'


	6. Decisions

The air stuck to Holly's calf-length black tights, hung her loose top heavy over her shoulders. The moon peeked out from the wispy clouds, drawing her heart toward the sky. Or it would have, if that particular organ hadn't been weighed down by a few choice thoughts. Numbers really. Eight and ten. The former being the hour Artemis promised to meet her, ten the present one.

Despite the humidity of the air, Holly wrapped her arms around herself, indulging in a petulant sigh. Perched on the roots of a familiar acorn tree, she looked out onto the still bended stream, her eyes glazed as the surface. She refused to analyse why she remained there – stubbornness, probably. Mulish desire that forced her to prove that the surface could be enjoyable without _him._

And it was. The air, perfumed with the musk of the trees, freshened her lungs and her breath somehow came easier up here. The chirrup of crickets that so irritated some Mud-people fell as a salve onto her ears, the almost inaudible trickle of water tripping over pebbles just as well suited. Mhm, no way was she going to waste this night on the likes of Artemis Fowl.

The scuff of a shoe against a bramble interrupted the sound of crickets. Holly glared up sharply at the intruder of her serenity, and found herself facing the form of none other than the Mud-boy she just decided she'd rather spend her midsummer night without.

'I am sorry,' he said quickly, crossing the space between them. She raised her eyebrows sceptically at him. 'Truly,' he continued. 'Annie came across with a fever.' Holly examined him critically and led herself to believe he mightn't even be lying about it. 'Thought you might've gone home…' Artemis finished softly.

She smiled, wrapping her arms around him. 'Should know me better than that, Artemis.'

'I think I know you well enough,' he whispered into her ear. 'And I am sorry for being late.'

'Not your fault,' Holly whispered back. She squeezed gently. 'You can make it up to me.'

She grabbed his hand to sloshed into the previously still stream.

'Er, I was not aware 'hanging out' entailed … water sports.'

'Be glad we're not discussing a waterbed, Mud-boy,' she shot back, tugging at his arm. 'C'mon,' she whined, splashing water at him. A tiny glint in his eye made her hesitate, and suddenly he pushed her backward into the stream, managing to stay almost upright himself. Holly shrieked, flailing about, pulling him closer to her, wrestling about with him – until she drenched him as thoroughly as he had her.

Eventually, Artemis escaped onto the grass and Holly tailed him, collapsing beside, both of them panting heavily. Artemis lay prone, so Holly used his shoulder as a resting place for her head, her drenched auburn hair trickling water over his skin. He looked down at her – she could see the incline of his head, from her peripheral vision as she gazed at the moon – warm puffs of his breath tickling her forehead.

'You're very pretty,' he said suddenly, brushing away locks of sodden hair from her cheek. 'Dangerously so.'

'Dangerous?' Holly leant her weight, now, onto one elbow, looking down on her quixotic friend. 'As in I look dangerous, or as in I'm dangerous for your hormones?' She smirked.

'Erh …' Artemis paused for a moment, and Holly took that moment to kiss him lightly on the lips.

'Decided?' she asked brightly, as he caught her eyes and tried to search them for ridicule.

'Why did you do that?' he finally replied.

'Liked kissing you on the cheek,' she said simply, letting that he hadn't answered slide for now. 'Thought I might like it more if I did so on your lips.'

'Did you?' he asked slowly.

In answer, she kissed him again.

'Yeah,' she said, a millimetre from his lips. 'I think I did.'


	7. Toast

Holly leaned her weight onto her left foot, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear. She pointed a hooked smile in Artemis's direction as he struggled to replace the clip around the fine-grain loaf he had finally managed to find in his pantry. As Artemis hacked off two slices and placed them into the toaster, she examined her cuticles.

'Anytime now,' she drawled. 'How are you going to survive on your own, if you can't even make a girl breakfast, honestly?'

'Butler will continue to be in my service when I leave Fowl Manor,' Artemis replied frostily, taking two attempts to push down the lever.

'That'll impress your girlfriends, I'm sure.' Holly's smirk widened as Artemis appeared to look impressive with the dials and settings.

'You could make your own breakfast,' he suggested, gesturing to the toaster. 'Better yet, you could have gone back to Haven last night, and had whatever gourmet meals _you_ can afford.'

'S'more fun this way,' she explained, petting him on the top of his head like a hapless kitten. 'Besides, the flares were being unpredictable. You wouldn't want me burning to a crisp would you?'

'Burning?' Artemis repeated, deadpan. Holly sniffed, and acrid smoke pervaded her nostrils.

Just then, the toaster exploded. Artemis stumbled back in shock, while Holly cast wildly around for a fire blanket or extinguisher.

'Ever heard of fire-safety?' she shot disparagingly at Artemis, looking around for a dry tea towel. The high-pitched squeal of a fire-alarm accosted her eardrums. This seemed to startle Artemis out of his shock. He reached around her suddenly, hitting a small red button on the alarm systems. Streams of liquid foam poured down from the ceiling,

In a matter of seconds, they smothered the flames lapping at Artemis's ornamental ceiling, but they also drenched the room itself. The foam plastered Holly's clothes to her frame, covering her with thick, white suds. Holly sloshed through the puddles on the floor to shut off the fire-alarm, soaking the hems of her tights.

Wiping the froth away from her face, she threw a questioning look at Artemis. In response, he waded towards a small drawer and picked out a dark cloth. Holly took glee in that he was as soaked as she was.

'That would've been useful about half a minute ago,' she remarked. 'Not so much now.'

She snatched it away and dried her face and air, before whipping it back at him and leaving the room. He joined her in the lounge a few moments later, where the slush from the kitchen leeched wetness into the carpet immediately adjoining it.

'Yeah,' she began. 'That went … well.'

Artemis raised an eyebrow at her, and he looked so comical, his hair dripping wet and droplets falling from his nose, that she could not contain herself. She tried to muffle her lather with her hand, but ended up clutching her stomach as her amusement redoubled at his expression.

She flounced towards Artemis, wiping a bubble off the tip of his nose, kissing it lightly on impulse. Immediately, she felt her cheeks flush, and she took half a step backward, opening her mouth to stutter an apology.

_Damnit, damnit. This is not an appropriate time for your hormones to get the better of you! _He's_ the teenager here, not you! _

Truth be told, Holly had felt herself become trapped up in her mind for far too long, ever since their return from Hybras. For a Recon officer, this was quite an unsettling sensation, like she was removed from the world around her - too much in her head, not enough in her heart. Foolishly, for a moment, she'd thought Artemis might have shared that almost crippling feeling, that they could snap each other out of it … Stupidity.

Slowly, he reached out and brushed his thumb against her lips. She collapsed into his embrace, her cheek pressed against the coolness of his shirt, hands clutching it at the back. For a while, he held her, she held him.

'We should go get changed,' she mumbled eventually. He nodded.

'I have some clothes that might fit you,' he said, an inscrutable expression crossing his features. 'Come upstairs.'

* * *

Artemis handed her a small black button-up top (possibly, Holly hazarded, because he owned no T-shirts) and a pair of Juliet's ¾ length jeans (the first ones he'd grabbed upon venturing into her room). Unselfconsciously, Holly pulled her own shirt over her head, well aware that her sports bra covered everything over-modestly. Artemis however, appeared to be extremely unsettled by this, turning around quickly and averting his eyes to stare resolutely at the floor. Rolling her own eyes, Holly slipped into Juliet's jeans, and tapped him on the shoulder.

'You can look now, I'm all covered up.' She looked down at herself for a moment, running her palms over her stomach and thighs. 'I'm not that bad looking, am I?' she joked, somewhat as a tension-breaker and the remainder to gauge his reaction.

'No,' he correct hurriedly, not looking at her again. 'You are. Just…'

'Come off it,' Holly laughed easily. 'You've seen Juliet in a bikini haven't you?'

'You are not Juliet,' Artemis replied quietly, and Holly's expression sobered.

'If this is about that kiss, then don't worry about it, I didn't mean anything by it,' she reassured him, smiling a little. 'Kinda like after Hybras, yeah?' Holly undid the last two buttons of the shirt, tying the ends in a knot at her navel, trying to make it dwarf her less.

'Obviously my hormones aren't under as much control as I previously stipulated,' Artemis muttered.

Holly retied the knot, tugging at it forcefully, her concentration elsewhere than his words. 'Hm? What do you mean?'

'I mean,' Artemis said a little too loudly, 'that perhaps I want you to mean something by it.'

Holly stopped fiddling and fixed him with a quixotic look. 'Seriously?'

'I do not joke about such things,' he told her, his face definitely not comical.

_He doesn't know what he's getting himself into_, she reasoned. _He'll just get scared off and I'll just get hurt. Here, watch._

'Should take that shirt off,' she heard herself saying.

She buttoned it, so that it gaped open at the front – and Artemis didn't move despite that her hands shaking made it take twice as long as it might have usually. She slipped her fingers underneath the fabric, the pressed her palms against his skin, running over his chest lightly. She felt his skin raise into goose bumps, but he did not step away. She skimmed blunt-cut nails over his back and sides, made tiny circle with her thumbs on his stomach, wondering when he would push her away, realise that this was something physical, affectionate…

'I know,' he said, placing his hands over hers.

'Know?' Holly asked, something constricting her throat inexplicably.

'Physicality, affection,' he repeated her thoughts to her, and she realises she had spoken out loud. 'I can do better than that,' he added.

'How much better?'

He kissed her then, and she thought she heard him murmur something against her lips.

* * *

As you might have gathered, I'm very with the fluff and romanticism. This is mostly because when I'm in a bad mood, I tend to write hopelessly sappy things and also to want to read hopelessly sappy things as well. Thought I might help anyone looking for that same thing, and so this incredibly shippy collection is born. I'd really like it if you're even reading this to drop in a review, it really motivates me to keep updating. Thank you. 


	8. Drunk

A loud rap on Artemis's window jarred him from his otherwise peaceful sleep. He struggled out from under his mink blankets, padded across his carpet and placed a hand on the latch of his window. He considered calling out for Butler, when a small hand wiped away the layer of fog over the glass.

'Holly!' Hurriedly, Artemis yanked the window open, allowing her to tumble into his room. She giggled, her hand curled around the neck of a bottle of fruity champagne. Noticing his gaze, she thrust it towards him.

'I want to get drunk!' she informed him, but it appeared to Artemis she may already be. She took a gulp from the bottle and wrinkled her nose. 'It's like raspberries. Try.' She pushed it into his chest and Artemis's hands closed over it involuntarily.

'Holly, humans and fairies can't share alco-'

'Pah!' she exclaimed freely, but her hands twisted compulsively. 'Don't have to worry 'bout that, Arty.'

Artemis did not respond to this use of his diminutive. 'Why?'

She giggled again, uncharacteristically. 'Look,' she said, pulling him close to her chest. He blinked for a moment, before registering what it was she wanted him to see. Her necklace, without the Booke attached.

'You were _exiled_?'

'Yup,' she agreed, bobbing her head up and down. 'D'you wanna know why? Well, I'm not gunna tell ya.' She started him down with a surprising amount of sobriety. ''Cuz I don't want to.'

She tapped the base of the wine bottle. 'But I _do_ wanna get drunk, with you.'

'Why me?' Artemis asked, almost to himself.

'You're my friend,' she said, as if talking to a small child. 'Drink!'

Mostly to appease her, Artemis took a small sip. Quite fizzy.

'Holly, you're very drunk.'

She snatched the bottle away, taking a long draught. 'And, and I should be.' She groaned. 'D'arvit, Ar'mis, my head hurts.'

'Come here,' he lead her slowly over to his bed and lay her down, hoping she would pass out. She declined his wish. Instead, she peered up at him, smiling vaguely.

'If I cut myself on the glass, there'd be no sparks,' she ruminated, looking at the bottle held loosely at the neck in his left hand, her smile falling to the wayside. 'But you could heal me,' she added, grabbing hold of his hand. 'But gently, Artemis. Gently.'

Then, gently as she said, she kissed the palm of his hand. A tremor ran from his stomach to his chest. He took his hand away from hers, only to place it onto the curve of her jaw.

'Artemis, Artemis, Ar'mis,' she made a face. 'Arty. Your name is hard to say.'

'Is it now?' he sat down on the bed beside her, stroking her cheek. 'Artemis Fowl. Hm, not so hard.'

'Artemis Fowl,' she repeated, smiling again. A rush of tenderness made Artemis take a sharp breath. The whole situation radiated surrealism.

'You're pretty.'

'Not quite a masculine compliment,' he replied.

'Beautiful, cute,' she stroked his shirt underneath his shirt jacket, then his skin under his shirt, with a wicked smile that made his chest tighten unreasonably.

'Careful, Holly. You're drunk and lonely, and you want someone to hold you.'

'You,' she repeated. A pause. 'Yes, I want you to hold me.'

'Holly,' he tried to lacquer a warning into his tone.

'Holly, Holly, Holly! No, do the crime, do the time. If I do it I might as well have done it.' She tilted her head back. 'Kiss me, Artemis.'

He reeled a little, stunned by her words, and more than that, their implication … 'They exiled you because they thought … Oh Holly …'

A tear slipped from her eyelashes. 'They're right, I do. But, I never would have … but now they've …'

'Shh,' he whispered into hair, kissing on her ear softly, quietly. 'It will be okay.'

'Damn right it will,' she sobbed, clutching at his hands. 'Tell me how it will.'

'It will,' Artemis repeated, 'if you trust me, believe what I'm saying. Holly, look at me, do you trust me?' She inclined her head. 'It will be okay, Holly.'

He kissed her – tried to show her how it might be.

'Artemis…' she breathed slowly, shaping her lips carefully around each syllable. 'I think I'm drunk.'

* * *

Well, this might be it for a while, since my inspiration has dried up a bit for these fics. Motivation is greatly appreciated! 


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